Tey Do Fin Dovahkiin
by Myrddin Emrys The Third
Summary: Katarine was a normal person, with a normal life, until a car accident landed her in the world of Skyrim. Now she has to use what she can remember to navigate her way through this world. But will her presence change things, or will everything go according to the game's 'script? M for violence, adult situations and such. Characters on filter may change. Maybe, maybe not.
1. Chapter 1

**I shouldn't post this, considering how often I **_don't _**update, but it seems I can't resist.**

**Tey- Tale. Do- Of/about. Fin- The, rarely used. Dovahkiin- Dragonborn.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Skyrim, Bethesda does.**

_**Tey Do Fin Dovahkiin**_

**Prologue**

Life was pretty normal for thirty-two year old Katarine Elisabeth Parker, or Kat, as family and friends called her. She worked at a high end real estate agency in Sydney, and was in charge of the sales division. Each day she worked hard to sell homes, from the million dollar properties that attracted celebrities and millionaires, to the cheapest houses that usually went to people who would renovate, then sell the house once it was finished. And then every afternoon she would go home to her Siamese cat, Precious, and her border collie, Fletch, and have a quiet evening in, unless she was going out with her friends.

Kat hadn't had a steady relationship for a couple of years, but had gone on a few dates with guys her friends would set her up with, though nothing had come of them. Ever since her mutual split with her former partner, Mark, no one had really sparked anything inside of her, and so those dates had been one-off's only. It wasn't that she was pining over Mark or anything, she simply wasn't interested in anyone who'd come along lately.

Speaking of break-ups… Her brother, Alexander Michael Parker, Alex for short, had recently gotten divorced from his wife of five years, Helen. Their split had been anything but amicable, and Helen had managed to leave Alex homeless, broke, and unable to see their son, except on weekends. And even then, the visits were monitored. Helen had managed to convince a social worker assigned to their case that Alex was a bad father, which was ridiculous, of course.

With nowhere to go, Alex had turned to Kat for help, and she'd willingly allowed her brother to come stay with her. That had been a year ago, and Alex was still living with her. He'd managed to find a job, though it was only part-time, at a local produce market, so he wasn't lazing around the house or anything, and he certainly pulled his weight while he was home. But he spent most of his other time, when he wasn't in those monitored visits with Liam, playing games.

Alex was a bit of a nerd, and quite the gamer. He'd played everything from Mario Kart to Assassins Creed, and even Pokémon. Kat played too, but she only indulged in it every now and then, Alex was rather die-hard. He often saved up his measly pay to attend conventions for games, such as E3, or whatever he'd called it, not to mention, he spent a lot on the games themselves.

Lately he'd been playing a game almost obsessively called Skyrim. Alex had told her it was the fifth instalment of a series called Elder Scrolls, and when she told him she could have sworn he'd played it ages ago, he'd told her that this was an updated version, because the original was apparently full of bugs, or something. Kat had watched him play for a bit, and had even had a go for herself, but while she admitted that the graphics were very good, and the premise was intriguing, she had to admit, she hadn't really caught onto it much.

Honestly, she'd died pretty quickly, and had been embarrassed by Alex's laughter, refusing to give it another go.

Still, every day Alex would play the game, and she'd watch a moment before going about her daily rituals. He kept changing things on the game, too. Apparently, since he had the PC version, he could install mods to add things in the game, and she had to admit, there were some pretty interesting things in there. Alex went back and forth from playing a female or male character, so there'd been a whole variety of things.

In any case, now it was eight o'clock in the morning of September the seventeenth, and Kat was running a little behind schedule for work. Alex was playing his game, as he didn't start work today until midday, and had said something about wanting to get some kind of skeleton key to its owner, or something.

"Don't forget to put water down for Fletch," Kat reminded her brother as she dug through her purse to make sure everything was in there. "You forgot yesterday, and I came home to a thirsty dog."

"That was an accident!" Alex protested, then yelled at the computer, "Yeah! Take that, you sentinel!"

Kat rolled her eyes. "Don't forget that you have to work today," she told him.

"I know, that," was the reply. "Now get out of here before you really are late."

"Alright, I'll see you this afternoon."

Kat was out the door to the sounds of her brother's rather exuberant cries of "hell yeah!" and "sense this!", shaking her head at his rather childish behaviour. Twenty minutes later had her heading out onto the busy highway, the most direct route to work. It would likely take her another twenty minutes to actually get to the firm, though luckily Rhonda was coming in this morning, and if she arrived before Kat, that was fine, she had a key to open up.

It was when she had turned off the highway and off into the inner suburbs that it happened. Kat was driving through an intersection where the other drivers had to wait for her because they had a stop sign, when seemingly out of nowhere, a 4WD came smashing into her car. There was a sharp pain in the side of her head, and then Kat was out like a light, consumed by the darkness.

OoOoO

She felt like she was floating in nothingness. Voices whispered around her, and Kat tried to frown, but couldn't seem to manage it. She desperately tried to open her eyes, but that failed as well. The whispers became louder and louder, until she could make out a few words here and there.

"…sure this is the one?"

"…pretty hard. Might think she's dreaming."

"Life is a dream."

"No need to get philosophical. We need to make sure she's the right one."

"Akatosh said the one we needed would arrive in this place, and since she's the only one here, I guess that makes her it."

What in the blazes was going on? Who was this Akatosh person? Kat tried once more to open her eyes, and this time she succeeded. What she saw surprised her, considering the last thing that had happened to her. She was lying on grass, in what looked like a light wood, though she was pretty sure no trees like that existed, at least not in Sydney, possibly not even Australia. They looked kind of like oaks or firs, the sort that were in Britain, or perhaps Europe. But she wasn't in Europe, was she?

Forcing herself to sit up, Kat looked around and saw eight figures dressed rather like the Ancient Greek Gods (or maybe the Roman or Viking ones? She wasn't sure) were seated around a stone table, and they seemed to be talking about her. "Well, where is Akatosh?" one of them demanded. "He was supposed to already be here."

"Patience, Julianos," a woman said. "I'm sure he's already on his way."

"He'd better get here soon," one of them said. "Our guest is awake."

The eight god-like beings turned towards her, and Kat felt a sense of Presence hit her, she couldn't help but feel in awe, and a little bit fearful, as well. The woman who'd spoken stood and came over to her.

"Greetings, Katarine," she said. "I am Kynareth. Welcome to our realm."

"Why am I here?" Kat asked. "_How_ am I here?"

"You are here because we need your help," Kynareth told her, and Kat was sure she'd heard the woman's name before. "as to how, well…"

The silence of those before her was palpable, but then the one called Julianos spoke, "Akatosh! Finally you're here!"

Kat turned to see another coming towards them, and this one seemed to have even more Presence than the others. "You need to get a better grip on your patience, my brother. I am here now, that is what counts."

Akatosh looked over to Kat, and it seemed to her that his eyes could see right through her, to her very soul. "Welcome, Katarine," he said. "I am Akatosh, a name I'm sure you know."

Kat shook her head slowly. "I'm afraid I don't sir," she told him.

"You do," he told her. "Think about it a moment."

Kat wracked her brain, but the only thing she could come up with was impossible, surely? "Not impossible," Akatosh told her. "I really am one of the Nine Divines from this game you know."

"B-but how?" Kat stammered, and she wondered where her usual composure had gone. "That's just a _game_!"

"It would take too long to explain the intricacies of the worlds and the way thoughts and words have power over them," Akatosh said. "But perhaps it would help you understand if I said that Nirn is a parallel world to your own. Do you understand the basics of parallel universes and such?"

Kat nodded and Akatosh smiled. "That is good," he said. "Now, to why you are here. In our world, things were going the way they were supposed to, but then an accident happened. Someone who was supposed to go on to do great things was killed, and now there is no one. But a vision came to me that hope for this world was not gone, for a lost soul would come here and that one would be able to replace the hero who died."

Kat's eyes were agog. "You want me to take this hero's place?" she demanded, then another thought hit her. "I-Is this about the dragons?"

Akatosh nodded. "The Dragonborn, an orc named Arguk, was involved in a dispute with one of his fellow orcs. Unfortunately, he did not come out of their disagreement alive."

"And you want me to replace him?" she asked, and all of them nodded. "But why me? Surely someone else would be a better choice? I don't really know anything about your world!"

"You have played the game, though" one of the Divines said. "And you've watched your brother as well."

"I played it for all of ten minutes, then I ended up dead!" Kat cried. "I can't do this!"

"You can," Akatosh told her. "You will have blessings and protection from each of us, we will not allow you to die so easily as the game. You will be safe, I promise."

"But Skyrim is so dangerous!" Kat said. "How can anything like that be guaranteed?"

"We will teach you how to live in Nirn," Kynareth told her. "We won't be giving you lessons, just the knowledge, there's no time for that. Alduin will be freed soon, and we need you in place."

"It is completely up to you, of course," Akatosh said. "We will not force you, but you must understand a couple of things. In your world, you were in what's called a car crash, correct?"

Kat frowned, the memory of a 4WD coming at her rising in her mind, then her eyes widened. "Did I die?" she asked.

Akatosh nodded. "If you choose not to help us, your soul will move onto the afterlife set aside for your people," he told her. "If you do, you will live again, albeit upon Nirn."

Kat was silent a moment, then she said, "You said a couple of things?"

"The other is that, if you choose not to help us, I want you to know that Alduin _will_ destroy the world."

Kat wanted to cry. How could this have all happened to her? But she forced the tears back. She was dead, and this was a chance at a new life, albeit in a world she'd known only as a game, and not that well, either. So Kat chose. "I'll help."

Akatosh smiled. "Thank you," he said. "We shall all bless you now, and send you on your way. You will awaken where your world's game starts, in the cart bound for Helgen. And don't worry, we will do our best to make sure everything happens the way it was supposed to."

The Divine laid his hand upon her head. "Take my blessing, child, and take with you the gift of regeneration, for your magicka and your health."

Kynareth stepped forward then, and place her hand upon Kat's head. "The blessings of nature upon you," she said. "Take my gift, that wild creatures will not harm you, unless you harm them."

This went on, and Kat received blessings that would help her in many different aspects, and every time a Divine touched her head, she felt some knowledge enter her mind. Finally the last one stood before her, and she knew he was Talos.

"So you really did ascend to godhood then?" she remarked. "Alex always wondered if you had or not."

Talos gave a bark of laughter. "Aye, I ascended, much to the grief of those snotty elves," he said.

"So, do you think I should take a side in the civil war?" Kat asked. "I really only know the details because Alex went on about the whole thing one night, even though I told him to shut up about it."

Talos smiled widely. "That is up to you, as both sides are equally valid," he told her, then laid his hand upon her head. "The blessings of war upon you. May your sword, or bow, or whatever weapon you choose to wield, always strike true. Take that as your gift."

A bit of tactical know-how seeped into her brain, and Kat sighed.

"It is time now, Katarine," Akatosh said, coming forward as Talos stepped back. "Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be," she said, and Akatosh raised his hand toward her.

"When your days are complete, you will return to this place, no matter what happens to you in your new life," he told her. "This guarantee is so that you may return to your own world, though it be only to step into your own world's afterlife"

"Thank you," she told him, then closed her eyes.

Blackness engulfed her once more, though not before she heard the whispers of "good luck", then she knew no more.

**So what do you think? Personally, I'm not overly wrapped in it, but maybe I'm just being too negative. Review and let me know?**


	2. Chapter 2

**So, I actually had this chapter done when I posted the prologue, but when I went through it for the last minute checks, I **_**hated**_** it. So, I rewrote it. It's longer than before, and I want to keep up the word count for other chapters, but I suppose if I don't, then I don't.**

**Anyway, Skyrim doesn't belong to me, but Bethesda…**

**Chapter One**

Throbbing pain was the tool used to bring her to consciousness, though the desire to sink back into blackness was overwhelming. But the ache in her head, and just about every other part of her body, forced her into opening her eyes, something her brain regretted the moment stabbing pain hit her irises. Kat cringed, shutting her eyes and moaning softly as the urge to vomit came along, and she stayed as still as she could so the feeling could leave.

That was easier said than done, though. A steady swaying and jostling motion was preventing her success at her task, and for the longest time it seemed, she simply lay there. Eventually the nausea passed, and Kat only had her aches to contend with. Waking up here, wherever here was, wasn't as pleasant as waking up in that grove, surrounded by deities.

Soon a humming sound reached her ears, and as she strained to listen, the hum became more complex, turning into the clattering of what sounded like horse hooves striking a stone road, mixed with low voices, birdsong, and the whistling of wind, possibly through treetops. Kat tried moving again, finding it easier this time, and she managed to open her eyes once more. Everything was a blur of light and colour for a few moments, before coalescing into images.

She was on a cart. _The_ cart, right at the beginning, the one leading the main character to the headsman's block. She tried sitting up, succeeding at something on the first go at last, and had a look around at her surroundings. Everything looked so much more _real_ than in the game, and even though she knew this, logically, she was still astounded at how much more alive Skyrim was. Kat then took a look at her fellow prisoners, and felt quite shocked.

In the game, she knew, there were four prisoners to a cart, but there were two extra people on here, both in the Stormcloak blue. Kat was sitting between a female soldier, and the Jarl, with Ralof still in front of her. She knew the beginning scenes quite well, though that would change past Helgen. No one was looking her way, everyone seemingly contemplating what was going to happen to them, and it was a moment before Ralof looked up and noticed her.

"Hey you, you're finally awake," he spoke his 'lines' exactly. "You were trying to cross the border, right? Walked right into that Imperial ambush, same as us, and that thief over there."

Lokir was sitting right next to Ralof, and he looked up to glare at him. "Damn you Stormcloaks," he said right on cue. "Skyrim was fine until you came along. Empire was nice and lazy. If they hadn't been looking for you, I could've stolen that horse and been halfway to Hammerfell."

He looked over at Kat then, his expression changing to one that was obviously meant to portray the fact he thought they were the same. "You there," he spoke earnestly. "You and me, we shouldn't be here. It's these Stormcloaks the Empire wants."

"We're all brothers and sisters in binds now, thief," Ralof told the thief.

"Shut up back there," the Imperial driving the cart said disinterestedly.

Silence fell, and Kat took the opportunity to covertly (at least, she hoped so) study Ralof's face. It was interesting, despite everything, to see how someone created with computer graphics looked when made into flesh and put right in front of you. Ralof's face was dirty, and he had a poorly wrapped wound on his shoulder, that she thought might have been the Imperial's disinterested attempt at patching him up once they'd all been caught. He was quite handsome, and younger than she'd expected, at least by her guess, but then again, Kat wasn't necessarily that good at guessing people's ages.

"What's wrong with him?" Lokir's words snapped Kat out of her intense study, and she looked over to see him scowling now at the Jarl, who was ignoring him.

"Watch your tongue!" Ralof snapped. "You're speaking to Ulfric Stormcloak, the _true_ High King."

"Ulfric? The Jarl of Windhelm? You're the leader of the rebellion. But if they captured you…?" Lokir gasped, eyes wide in a mixture of comprehension and fear. "Oh Gods! Where are they taking us?!"

"I don't know where we're going," Ralof spoke sadly, "but Sovngarde awaits."

"No! This can't be happening! This isn't happening!" Lokir moaned pathetically.

Everything they were saying so far was exactly how it was said in the game. Was it going to change? Kat supposed that was likely, since some of the content in the game was repeated by the characters, again and again. Alex had been complaining about it once. When would it happen? If _she_ said something? The dragonborn was a person of few words in situations like this, after all.

Kat turned her head away, and just past the woman at her side, she could see Helgen coming into sight. It was still a bit away, but getting ever closer. A shiver of dread at what was about to happen ran through her, and she deliberately looked away, back to Ralof and Lokir, the former of whom started up the dialogue again.

"Hey, what village are you from, horse thief?"

"Why do you care?"

"A Nord's last thoughts should be of home," was the soft reply.

A rather regretful look came into Lokir's eyes then, and he spoke quietly, "Rorikstead. I'm… I'm from Rorikstead."

And then quite suddenly, the dialogue deviated, and Kat was startled because she wasn't _actually_ expecting it, despite her earlier thoughts. "I'm Ralof, from Riverwood," Ralof told him, then looked over at her expectantly.

"Kat," she said. "Er… Katarine."

"And where are you from, Katarine?" Ralof asked her.

"Just a small village," Kat said, "over the border."

Ralof nodded, letting it be. Kat let out a sigh, thinking on how easy that lie had come to her, considering she hadn't even thought up a story for being here. It wasn't like she could tell people she was from a world where all their lives were just a game. No one would believe her, anyway, and she didn't want to know what would happen if they _did_.

They were entering Helgen now, Kat noticed, and the village looked a lot bigger than in the game, relatively speaking. There seemed to be more buildings, and more people as well. Kat's stomach turned a little at the realisation. It meant that more people who would die in the dragon's attack.

"General Tullius, sir! The headsman is waiting!" a soldier yelled, slightly startling Kat.

"Good, let's get this over with," came the general's voice, and it hit Kat that he sounded exactly the same as he did in the game. Ralof did too, almost.

She had forgotten about the general, riding up front of the procession. Thinking about someone else she'd forgotten, Kat looked back and saw Hadvar riding behind the cart that was following them. Three carts in total, and if each of them had six prisoners, then that was eighteen in total bound for the chopping block.

"Shor, Mara, Dibella, Kynareth, Akatosh! Divines, please help me!" Lokir hopelessly prayed.

Ralof gave a snort of disgust that returned Kat's attention to him, and she looked over in the direction he was looking to see two people on horseback. "Look at him. General Tullius, the Military Governor! And it looks like the Thalmor are with him. Damn elves! I bet they had something to do with this."

Ralof looked away from them and around the village. "This is Helgen," he said, sounding like he was musing to himself. "I used to be sweet on a girl from here. I wonder if Vilod is still making that mead with juniper berries mixed in. Funny, when I was a boy, Imperial walls and towers used to make me feel so safe…"

Kat looked around, and she was certain that the village was larger in reality than it was in the game. There were more people too, it looked to be at least three times as many villagers. The dialogue had gone back to the scripted version, but after the escape from Helgen and the run to Riverwood, Kat wasn't even sure what was, since Helgen was as far as she'd ever gotten. Rather pathetic, really, to die so quickly in the game...

The carts finally rolled to a stop in the village square. "Why are we stopping?" Lokir asked, his eyes wide with fear.

"Why do you think?" Ralof told him. "End of the line."

"Get those prisoners out of the carts!" a woman in Imperial armour yelled. "Move it!"

"Let's go," Ralof told her. "Shouldn't keep the gods waiting for us."

Lokir, Ulfric and Ralof all stood and stepped out of the cart, leaving a reluctant Kat until last, standing on unsteady legs. "No, wait! We're not rebels! This is a mistake!" Lokir cried as he stumbled to the ground. "You've got to tell them! We weren't with you!"

"Face your death with some courage, thief," Ralof said impassively as he, too, stepped off the cart.

Kat tried to hop down off the cart, but her legs failed her and she was falling, only to be awkwardly caught by Ralof. Awkward, because his hands were bound. "Thanks," she said.

"Step towards the block when we call your name. One at a time!" the captain ordered.

"Empire loves their damned lists," Ralof muttered as he let go of Kat.

Hadvar stepped forward then, pulling out a list and a quill. "Ulfric Stormcloak, Jarl of Windhelm," he called, and the Jarl moved forward.

"It has been an honour, Jarl Ulfric," Ralof said softly.

"Ralof of Riverwood." He followed his Jarl.

"Lokir of Rorikstead."

"No!" Lokir cried. "I'm not a rebel! You can't do this!"

He dashed forward then, just as Kat knew he would, his fear and desperation overriding any common sense he might have had. "Halt!" the captain ordered.

"You're not going to kill me!"

Oh, yes they were, and Kat cringed the moment the arrows collided with him and he fell dead to the ground. "Anyone else feel like running?"

That was an incredibly stupid question, Kat decided. Of course they would have all felt like running, but they weren't idiots, or even just scared witless as Lokir had been. But of course, that wasn't something you say to someone who wanted your head, literally.

"Wait. You there," Hadvar said suddenly, and Kat turned to see him staring at her curiously. "Step forward."

She did so, and he asked, "Who… are you?"

"Katarine," she said, deciding to go with her full name, which would fit in better here, she knew.

Hadvar searched through his list, "You picked a bad time to come home to Skyrim, kinswoman," he said.

Kinswoman? So she was a Nord to these people then. Not surprising, as her ethnic background was European. On her father's side especially, her mother's had a lot of Russian and Czech, though Kat was a third generation Australian.

"Captain, what should we do? She's not on the list."

"Forget the list, she goes to the block."

"Captain, that's not standard procedure," Hadvar argued, surprising Kat.

"It is today," the Captain said. "The General's orders; _everyone_ on the carts go to the block."

"By your orders, Captain," Hadvar said with a sigh of resignation, then turned back to Kat. "I'm sorry. At least you'll die here, in your homeland. Follow the captain, prisoner."

Kat followed the rather grim looking woman over to the line where the Stormcloaks were waiting, and once she was in line, Tullius began his speech. "Ulfric Stormcloak," he started in an important voice. "Some here in Helgen call you a hero. But a hero doesn't use a power like the Voice to murder his king and usurp his throne."

Ulfric growled under his gag, but Tullius ignored it and continued his speech. "You started this war, plunged Skyrim into chaos, and now the Empire is going to put you down and restore the peace!"

A roar sounded, reminding Kat about the impending dragon attack, and she felt a chill of fear at the sound. People were looking around, clearly confused, and Hadvar asked, "What was that?"

"It's nothing," the general said, dismissing it. "Carry on."

"Yes, General Tullius!" the captain saluted and called over a priestess. "Give them their last rites."

The priestess raised her hands to the heavens and began in an almost chanting voice, "As we commend your souls to Aetherius, blessings of the Eight Divines upon you…"

"For the love of Talos, shut up and let's get this over with!" snapped a Stormcloak who surged forwards towards the block.

"As you wish," the priestess said haughtily, sounding put out at being interrupted.

"Come on! I haven't got all morning!" the Stormcloak said arrogantly, and the Imperial captain shoved him down onto the block.

"My ancestors are smiling at me, Imperials!" he jeered as the headsman raised his axe. "Can you say the same?"

A flawless swing of the axe, and his head severed from his body, blood spurting everywhere. Kat wanted to throw up, and had to force herself not to.

"You Imperial bastards!"

"Justice!"

"Death to the Stormcloaks!"

"As fearless in death as he was in life," Ralof said in a low, respectful tone, head bowed slightly.

The Imperial captain turned towards them once more. "Next, the Nord in the rags!"

Another roar sounded, this one closer and more terrible than before, and Kat felt an urge to bolt, which she ruthlessly shoved aside. "There it is again," Hadvar said. "Did you hear that?"

Ignoring him, the captain reiterated, "I said, next prisoner!"

"To the block, prisoner. Nice and easy," Hadvar said with a slight sigh.

On shaky legs, Kat made her way over, trying to keep herself from throwing up at the sight of the beheaded Stormcloak. The Captain shoved her down onto the block just as the dragon roared again, and then Kat saw it, and felt awed at the sight of it. It was massive, its wingspan surely capable of blocking out the sun, and it was blacker than anything she'd ever seen.

"What in Oblivion is that?" Tullius demanded as the headsman raised his axe.

"Sentries, what do you see?"

"It's in the clouds."

The dragon landed on the tower, and someone screamed, "Dragon!" right before it roared and the whole sky changed. The headsman fell over, his axe following him down and the sharpened blade hitting him in the back of his head, blood spurting out of the wound. Kat gasped and shuffled away from him, even as her brain fogged and a fresh wave of nausea hit her.

"Hey kinsman, get up!" she heard Ralof yelling at her. "Come on, the gods won't give us another chance! This way!"

She tried to get up, she really did, but all she could do was almost crawl along, her legs refusing to work. Strong hands grasped her, and she realised that Ralof had grabbed her, and he was now pulling her into the tower. He carefully but quickly dropped her at the bottom of the steps, where Kat proceeded to cough and rub her legs, trying to get some feeling back into them.

"You alright?" Ralof asked, and Kat shook her head.

"Today stinks," she told him, and he chuckled slightly at that, before moving over to his Jarl.

"Jarl Ulfric, what is that thing? Could the legends be true?" he asked.

"Legends don't burn down villages," the Jarl replied, then yelled a moment later, "We need to move, now!"

"Up through the tower!" Ralof suggested. "Let's go."

Kat wasn't really listening to them, still trying to cough the smoke from the dragon's fires out of her lungs. "What are you waiting for? Up the stairs, now!" came the Jarl's voice.

Ralof grabbed Kat's arm, dragging her to her feet. "Up you go, kinswoman," he urged, and Kat stumbled up the stairs. Halfway up, though, the dragon's head crashed through the wall, instantly killing the Stormcloak who'd been trying to move the rubble, and knocking Kat backwards, tumbling into Ralof, who was right behind her. It belched out fire, then flew off. Kat peeked nervously out of the hole, and saw it swoop some Imperials.

"See that inn on the other side?" Ralof said, pointing past her to the next building over. "Jump through the roof and keep going."

"Are you kidding?" Kat demanded, her voice having gone hoarse in the burning smoke.

"I'm sure you can make it, Katarine," Ralof encouraged. "Go on, we'll follow you when we can."

Kat let out a sound of frustration, then, hoping she didn't fall and kill herself, she backed up a little and took a running leap. She landed heavily in the inn, winded and cradling her arm that had whacked against splintered wood, wondering if she'd sprained it with how much it hurt. Her legs weren't faring any better either, from the shock of the impact. Still, nothing seemed to be hurting enough to be broken, there was that at least.

She looked back up to see that Ralof was gone, then gingerly dropped through the broken floor beneath her to the ground level. The ropes around her wrists had been straining the whole time, and when she twisted her arms just so, she discovered that they'd loosened. She knew that in the game, either Ralof or Hadvar would release her bonds in the keep, but Kat changed that when she wriggled her wrists and yanked at the cords with her teeth, then the ropes came off.

The fact that this was different made Kat wonder if other things could change like this, and the connotations kind of scared her. Especially since she didn't actually know all the stories like the back of her hand, the way Alex did. Deciding not to chance any more changes while her life was on the line, Kat moved forward to follow the story she knew, and found Hadvar and another trying to coax a child out of the open and to safety.

Hadvar noticed her then, and said, "Still alive, Katarine? Keep close to me if you want to stay that way."

He turned to the other man and ordered, "Gunnar, take care of the boy. I have to find General Tullius and join the defence."

"Gods guide you, Hadvar," the man Gunnar said.

Kat followed Hadvar through the village, dodging the dragon and a few stray arrows and bolts of lightning, until they neared the keep, where Ralof seemed to pop up out of nowhere. "Ralof you damned traitor!" Hadvar exclaimed. "Out of my way!"

"We're escaping, Hadvar," the Stormcloak said. "You're not stopping us this time!"

Hadvar looked conflicted, then he snapped, "Fine! I hope that dragon takes you all to Sovngarde!"

"Come on, kinsman!" Ralof yelled as he ran to one of the doors, and Hadvar headed to the other calling, "With me, Katarine!"

Kat was so torn, she had no idea which way to go, so she closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath, and ran.

**I hope you liked it. Please review!**


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